Renovation or new construction of kitchen cabinetry has evolved to the use of stainless steel doors as an aesthetically pleasing and durable material. The current process of manufacture for a stainless steel composite door includes the formation of a stainless steel pan filled with a core having a stainless steel exterior surface forming a rear surface of the door.
Initially, a flat sheet of stainless steel is notched at four corners to provide an approximately ¾ of an inch flange at each side of the stainless steel sheet. The side edge flanges are then folded up from the central base portion of the sheet of stainless steel.
The process of cutting a sheet of stainless steel to remove notches at the corners of the sheet, bending flanges from a horizontal to a vertical orientation and welding and polishing the corners of the fabricated metal pan always includes a series of imperfections. No matter how much care is taken during the folding process, the edges of the flanges deviate along their lengths to form an undulating pattern.
Usually, a laminate of a lightweight plywood section and a brushed metallic laminate is cut to fit into the pan with side straight edges along their length. When the straight edged laminate is inserted into the formed pan there is an apparent misalignment between the walls of the flanges of the pan and the inserted core. The appearance of gaps along the length of the flanges is apparent and unsightly.